


Christmas Traditions

by YumeMusouka



Series: Infinite Worlds With You [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Presents, Friendship, Getting Together, Hot Chocolate, Human Loki (Marvel), Kissing, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony needs love, he gets a kiss instead, if even, since they didn't talk about it in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:40:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28311762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeMusouka/pseuds/YumeMusouka
Summary: Tony didn't have any real Christmas traditions growing up. When Loki became his assistant, they just gradually developed their own.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Infinite Worlds With You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071392
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	Christmas Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays! I started this as a story about hot chocolate and then it became depressing. Now, I just wanna hug Tony. :/
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this.
> 
> Please excuse my grammar mistakes. (I mean, you can point it out and I'll fix them)

Tony was never really into winter or particularly Christmas. As a child, he was never allowed out to play in the snow because Howard, his sperm donor, thought it was a poor people’s pastime. The rich had their own source of entertainment. There were no snowball fights, snow angels, or igloos in Tony’s childhood.

On Christmas, Tony never got any presents. He could always get what he wanted outside of it anyways. Howard said that Christmas was the holiday to encourage the lower kinds of people to buy more stuff. It was a season for the rich to get richer. As a result, Howard went off to work while Tony’s mother busied herself with helping those in need. She needed work to do and a hole to fill from being in a marriage that turned stale. Being applauded as an angel during the seasons of giving gave her enough satisfaction to stay in her loveless marriage.

The only relatively normal thing that happened on Christmas was that Jarvis, their butler, would ask if Tony wanted anything. Tony would always refuse to ask for presents because Jarvis had a sick wife to take care of. Jarvis would then adamantly make Tony a cup of hot chocolate on Christmas despite Tony’s complaints of disliking sweets. Jarvis would hush him and shove the warm cup into his hands and put on a Christmas movie. With a strained smile, Jarvis would leave Tony alone with the nannies.

They did that every year until Jarvis passed from overworking himself. Tony took care of Jarvis’s sick wife until she too passed on.

Even after he grew up, he didn’t celebrate Christmas. Rhodey, his best friend and college roommate, would always ask if he wanted to come visit his family. Tony always refused because although he didn’t know how Christmas was celebrated, he was sure it was a family only thing. Pepper, his assistant, would try to get him to craft and decorate his house. His snowflakes always ended up mangled, and he, now, had bins of Christmas decorations that didn’t go up unless Pepper came by to do it (also with a real tree, because she said fake trees weren’t the same). Happy, his driver, gave him different flavored candy canes each year. Tony may like pickles, but pickle candy canes tasted too weird even for him.

Tony bought them gifts every year, and they bought him gag gifts in return. Even as an adult, he didn’t need gifts. He could now get whatever he wanted with his own money. Every year, Pepper and Happy took the holidays off to visit home. Rhodey would call without fail, but when he got off from the air force, he went to visit his home.

Tony spent Christmas sleeping with lonely ladies dressed in sexy santa outfits or maybe elves. It wasn’t that much different from his everyday life, but it was something.

When he appointed Pepper to be the CEO of his company, he needed a new assistant. He got one in the form of Loki Borson. If Pepper could handle him and reel him in when he acted out, Loki never let him even start. Pepper was proud of her choice of an assistant.

If Tony tried to chase Loki away by being an asshole, Loki sassed him back until Tony gave up. Someone that could insult him without actually swearing wasn’t a person Tony wanted to waste energy on, especially when that someone had such a posh accent. Doing his work shut that annoying mouth faster than anything else could. 

Also, Loki gave no shits. If Tony had company in his bed, Loki would come in and promptly kicked out the stranger. It didn’t matter if Tony had gotten off or not. Or that his dick was just hanging out in the open. Apparently, Loki had a schedule to keep and Tony’s daily squeezes weren’t a priority.

Tony would fire the ass, but Loki made good coffee. Also, when Loki was nice, he bought Tony a doughnut. Pepper would also yell at him if he fired Loki without cause. So with nowhere else to go, Loki easily crept into his friend list.

Unlike Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy, Loki never went home for the holidays.

On the first Christmas that passed, after Loki started making his life like hell, Tony woke up to find his assistant making coffee in his kitchen as usual. Tony didn’t remember Loki ever talking about heading home for the holidays, but he just assumed the guy would silently request the days off and leave. Tony thought maybe Loki didn’t have a family, but when he asked, Loki said he did have one in Norway and they celebrated Yuletide, the whole twelve days of festivities (which sounded like a headache).

And so, Loki stayed with him for the whole day on Christmas. They didn’t have work, so they just remained in his house, lounging around. They tried the candy canes Happy bought. They surfed the net and found some chicken wings for delivery. When night fell, Loki got up and made hot chocolate from scratch despite it being sixty degrees outside. Malibu had no understanding what a “White Christmas” was. Loki came back and shoved a mug of it into Tony’s hand and then asked JARVIS, Tony’s AI named after Jarvis, to put on a Christmas movie.

His mug had a Santa design while Loki’s had Rudolf. It must have been a set that Tony got from, he assumed, Pepper. The Santa mug was warm in his hand. The hot chocolate itself just looked thick, like real  _ thick _ . He wasn’t even sure if there was milk in it. On top of the liquid were dollops of cream on one side and a pile of mini marshmallows on the other. Chocolate shavings on top of it all completed the look. It smelled disgustingly sweet. After his first hesitant sip, he knew it tasted exactly how it smelled.

He had drunk it all and watched the dumb movie JARVIS chose with Loki by his side the entire time.

After that day, they didn’t talk about it. They went back to their usual relationship of constantly egging each other on. However, on the next Christmas, the same thing happened. Loki stayed with him, tried Happy’s candy canes, ate chicken wings, made hot chocolate, and forced him to watch a movie picked by JARVIS. It happened every year.

Tony woke up nervous on the fifth year of Loki and his tradition. He dressed normally, his black tank and jeans, and paced around in his room. JARVIS told him that Loki was already in the kitchen, making coffee. It just made him more nervous.

Pepper found out that Tony had never bought Loki a single Christmas gift throughout all the years. It wasn’t his fault. He and Loki barely knew each other on the first Christmas and then they started their weird thing. Tony didn’t buy him a gift and Loki didn’t buy him a gift. Changing that fact after it had already settled made Tony terrified. What if he broke their yearly tradition?

RING!!!

Tony flinched and jerked his head to the source of the sound. He dived into his bed and picked up his phone. Seeing a familiar caller ID, Tony swiped the phone to answer. He put it on speakers, so he could curl back up in the sheets.

“Hello?” He answered.

“Tones?”

“Yea. Hey, Rhodey. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Tones,” Rhodey said. Tony could hear a smirk in that voice. “Are you… okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Tony snapped.

“I don’t know. Pepper said something about a present for a certain someone,” Rhodey teased.

“Yea, and it means nothing.”

“Oh, come on, Tones. We all know already. No need to be embarrassed,” Rhodey assured him.

“I’m not embarrassed because there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Of course not,” Rhodey played along. “There’s nothing embarrassing about having your first ever crush.”

“I do not have a crush on Loki,” Tony rolled his eyes.

“I never said his name,” Rhodey said.

“Shut up,” Tony groaned.

“Don’t deny it. You know it’s true. JARVIS, when’s the last time Tony had sex?”

“Well-”

“Don’t answer that JARVIS! You don’t work for this man.”

“As you wish, sir.”

“Looks like somebody else is being a sour patch this time,” Rhodey laughed.

“Fuck you, palatypus,” Tony growled.

Eventually, Rhodey switched the topic. They caught up on each other’s lives and talked about the weird shit they used to get into. As they were discussing what they should do when they met up again, Rhodey was called back to work. They said their goodbyes and hung up.

Tony asked Loki’s whereabouts and JARVIS said that the coffee was just about done.

Before his nerves wouldn’t let him, Tony grabbed the present, wrapped up in gold and green, he kept hidden in his drawer and ran out his room. He made his way down the stairs, the silver garlands sparkling from the sun out in the ocean through the window. He walked up to the pine tree, wrinkling his nose from the smell, and set the present down on the tree rug. He maneuvered it so that it blended with the fake presents decorating the ground. He walked past the patio door with snowflakes of all kinds taped onto it. He followed the lights on the upper wall through the hallway to his kitchen. There he found Loki taking a chocolate chip cookie out of the snowman cookie jar as he nursed a cup of coffee in his other hand.

“Morning,” Loki greeted as he covered the jar.

“Yea, morning,” Tony replied as he grabbed his cup of coffee on the counter.

“Did Rhodey call? I heard you screaming earlier.”

“Huh? Oh, yea. He was being an ass like usual.”

“You guys are weird.”

“Please,” Tony scoffed. “We’re nothing like you and Amora.”

“I’ll admit that Amora is a bit much,” Loki nodded. “But when you talk to Rhodey, it’s like your IQ takes a vacation, leaving you to survive on your own. You already have difficulties doing that with your IQ intact.”

Tony couldn’t let that go quietly. They argued back and forth, as they made their way to the living room. Tony soon gave up when Loki pulled out the excessive vocabulary. They instead settled into the couch. Tony grabbed two candy canes from the tree and brought them over.

“What flavor is it this year?”

“I think it’s… wasabi?”

“Must they always be such questionable flavors?” Loki complained.

Tony shrugged and ripped his candy cane open. He slipped it into his mouth, practically immune to the mystery effect. He already knew it was gross, so what did it matter? And it was gross. It was spicy and it tasted so fake.

Loki took his time to open his candy. His assistant stared at the green candy dubiously and wrinkled his slim pale nose in disgust. Then he opened his mouth and stuck his little pink tongue out. He licked the candy cane and then reeled back in disgust.

“Candy should taste like candy,” Loki grumbled as he glared at the wasabi candy cane.

Tony just chuckled as he sucked on his own. Loki tried to eat his candy, but his sweet tooth couldn’t stomach it. Tony ended up eating Loki’s as well.

They settled in for their lazy day. They browsed their phones and occasionally exchanged words. Like every year, they just stayed in each other’s company. When Loki got hungry, Tony had JARVIS order food from their chicken wings place. Once the wings arrived, Loki jumped up to grab them. He came back with the food and placed it on the coffee table. They ate from the box, on the sofa.

“This shit is always salty,” Tony complained but didn’t stop eating.

“Well, they are opened on Christmas for a reason,” Loki shrugged.

“If they seasoned better, they wouldn’t have to be,” Tony retorted.

Loki chuckled and resumed eating. Tony smiled and ate quietly for the remainder of their lunch. Once they finished, they went back to their phones.

Tony could hear the waves picking up outside. The sun was also getting low. The day went by so fast, but it was nice. Somewhere else, he knew people were running around trying to finish cooking dinner. Kids were probably crying about how they got clothes instead of toys. Other people were probably stuck being nice to relatives they actually hated. Then there was Tony and Loki, wasting the day away, doing nothing.

“I haven’t walked in on you having intercourse in a while. Are you having problems? Do you need an appointment with a specialist?” Loki smirked, capturing Tony’s whole attention.

“Wow, no, fuck you,” Tony rolled his eyes. “And you? Your last boyfriend ditched you because he found out you were too much of an ass?”

“No. He liked my bottom just fine. We were only friends with benefits,” Loki clarified with a growl. “He wanted to meet up today and I said I was busy. He got angry, so I broke it off.”

“Why? It was just sex. You’ve just gone to fuck him today.”

Not that Tony would be happy with that. He probably would have crashed their sex party. Not because of jealousy, of course, but because they had a tradition and all.

“It’s not just sex, Tony. He wanted a relationship, and I could never spend Christmas with a man I can’t see myself spending my life with,” Loki exasperated. “Sex with him was decent enough, but he was dumb as a stump. I hated it when he talked.”

“Yea, I hate the stupid ones.”

“And yet, that’s all you  _ do _ .”

“Okay, but the dumb ones are easiest to work with.”

“You’re messed up, Stark.”

“Like you’re any better.”

“Never said I was.”

Then the sun was gone, leaving the big Christmas tree be the only light in the room.

Loki stood up and took their coffee mugs with him. In his assistant’s absence, Tony felt pressure building back up from the morning. He had to give the present to the asshole at some point. Knowing Pepper, she’d probably ask Loki how he liked his gift, so Loki needed to have received a gift to answer that.

He was hesitant. He didn’t want anything to change in their current relationship. Yes, Rhodey was right that Tony may have a small crush on Loki. But Tony wasn’t expecting a romance between them. He knew he was difficult. He was satisfied with what they had.

They weren’t lovers so they never did anything romantic per se, but they weren’t just friends. Tony's friends gave him gifts. Loki didn’t. Loki was the only one who stayed. Yea, he knew Rhodey and the rest of them had other commitments, so he wasn’t complaining about that. Tony just didn’t want Loki to think that he needed to give Tony a gift back. Loki wasn’t on the same level as Rhodey and them for Tony. Nor did Tony want Loki to think, or rather know, that Tony’s feelings ran deeper. They had been working together for over five years. What they had already was enough.

Although, there was one thing that Pepper said was right about. Loki  _ deserved _ a gift. His assistant was an annoying little shit at the start, but then he quickly wormed his way into Tony’s stone cold heart. And yea, Loki was beautiful, but that wasn’t all. Loki was witty as hell, had propensity for mischief, and was friends with all of Tony’s friends. Loki made Tony feel like he was okay, like Tony didn’t need to change a thing about himself. Loki made him feel like he was enough.

Tony was thankful for that, because he knew how bad he was. Not a day went by where they didn’t argue. Loki always had to chase him down when he ran away from paperwork. Loki had to watch his alcohol intake, because Tony was too much of a kid to do it himself. When Tony had meltdowns, Loki had to be the one to calm him, because only Loki knew how to ground him during his crazed panics. And yet, despite it all, Loki chose to spend Christmas with him every year.

At this point, Tony couldn’t live without Loki.

Tony stood up and went to grab the gift. On the sofa, he put it to his side as he got comfortable again. Loki came back in, handing Tony his Santa mug of hot chocolate. Loki sat down in his spot, nursing his Rudolf cup.

“JARVIS, can you play a movie,” Loki asked.

“Of course, Mr. Borson. This year, I believe ‘The Polar Express’ would be nice.”

The tv turned on as the movie slowly came to life. Tony stared down the sweet treat in his hand.

“You know that I actually hate hot chocolate, right?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’m your assistant. I know you have questionable taste buds,” Loki replied with his eyes focused on the tv.

“Then why do you make it?” Tony asked.

“I made it as a joke the first time, but you drank it all,” Loki confessed. “So I just thought it was a Christmas thing. You never told me to stop.”

“Loki,” Tony called as he set his cup on the table.

Hearing the sound, Loki turned to look at him. “What? Do you want me to stop making it?”

“What? No, that’s not it. I just- I just wanted to say something.”

“What is it?”

“So like, don’t think too hard about it,” Tony started. “But I... So Pep told me to. Not that I did it because of her. I did it because I wanted to. Not that it means anything. Not that you don-”

“Are you ever going to get to the point?” Loki amusedly smiled.

“Rude. Lemme speak. Don’t pressure me. Let it come out naturally.”

“If I did, I wouldn’t know how long it’d take,” Loki wagged his brows.

“Goddamnit, Rudolf, I don’t sex performance issues!” Tony exclaimed.

“I didn’t say anything,” Loki innocently shrugged his shoulders.

“You are such an ass! I can’t believe yo- Stop distracting me! Anyways!”

“Yes?”

“I kinda... boughtyouaChristmasgift.”

“What?” Loki frowned. “Tony, you didn’t have to.”

“It’s fine. I buy presents for Pepper and them too. It’s nothing special. I just thought maybe it was time to get you a gift.”

“Oh, thanks. I didn’t get you anything, obviously, but I’ll find something for you later.”

That was exactly what he didn’t want.

“You don’t have to get me a gift,” Tony urgently said. “I don’t need anything in return.”

“Tony, don’t be stupid. Pepper and them get you gifts. It’s rude if I don’t do the same.”

“Yea, but  _ you _ don’t have to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I just! Look, Rudolf, I don’t  _ need _ a gift from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Loki narrowed his eyes.

“It-it means that I- I don’t know!”

“I think what sir is trying to say is that you being here is-“

“JARVIS! Mute!” Tony yelled. “Mute, mute, mute!”

Loki glared at him. Tony was starting to regret everything, because Loki was his assistant. The guy basically had the same level of access to JARVIS in case of emergencies.

“JARVIS, unmute,” Loki said.

“As I was computing earlier, sir believes that you being here is enough of a gift.”

Loki blinked. And then blinked again with a head tilt of confusion.

“I hate you so much, J,” Tony groaned as he covered his face.

“Duly noted, sir.”

“Is what JARVIS said true?” Loki questioned with a guarded voice.

“Yes! Whatever!” Tony blushed as he grabbed the present pressed to his side and shoved it into Loki’s lap. “Just take your gift and let’s watch this dumb movie.”

“Tony, I-”

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Tony grumbled as he picked up his hot chocolate again.

In his peripheral view, he saw Loki silently put the present and the Rudolf cup on the table. He clenched his teeth until he felt a cool hand grab him.

“What if I want to talk about it?”

Tony gulped a mouthful of chocolate and turned to look at Loki. The man had his professional face on, expressionless. With resignation, Tony smiled. “What do you want to know?”

“How do you feel about our yearly tradition?”

Tony could lie and say it was all a joke, but he didn’t want to. Their Christmas tradition was something Tony couldn’t lie about. It was just a stupid and lazy tradition, but it was the only thing he had.

“Us being together on Christmas means a lot to me. Especially drinking this gross ass hot chocolate and watching movies. My late butler used to make me some and leave me to watch Christmas movies alone. I could never ask him to watch with me because he had a sick wife to take care of,” Tony revealed. “Doing this every year… it makes me happy.” He smiled. “I'm a guy who can buy whatever I want, but none of that has ever made me as happy as you do every Christmas. I don’t need a gift back from you, because you being here is enough.” He shifted his gaze away. “But yea, we don’t have to talk about it. In fact, we can pretend like none of this even happened.”

“For your information, being here is enough of a gift for me too.”

“What?” Tony turned his head back.

“I already told you that I could never spend Christmas with a man I couldn’t see myself spending the rest of my life with,” Loki rolled his eyes. “I’m here every Christmas, idiot.”

“What?” Because what was going on?

“You heard me. I’m not going to repeat myself,” Loki grumbled as his ears turned pink.

“What?! But you never-! Are you blushing?! You mean for five fucking years? I could’ve- We could’ve been-! You can’t just say that and then just-”

He felt thin lips pressed onto his. He almost spilled hot chocolate, practically lava, on himself. Tony's mind went completely blank before understanding what was happening. They were kissing. Tony moved his hand up to the back of Loki’s head and gripped those long strands of black hair. He quickly deepened the kiss, holding them close together by their tongues. Soon, Loki pulled away to breathe.

“Shut up, Tony,” Loki ordered as he brushed his hair behind his ear. His pale face was now red up to his ears. “We can talk about it later if you want. We still have a movie to watch.”

“Yea, okay,” Tony smiled as he grabbed Loki’s hand to hold.

They watched the movie, holding hands. At some point in the middle, Loki randomly laughed about how Tony didn’t actually have ED, he was just lovesick. Tony would have gotten mad if the way Loki laughed wasn’t so endearing. Maybe dreaming about a romance between them wasn’t so hopeless. Either way, Tony knew that Loki would be there every year.

Tony wasn’t into the winter holidays. His family was never close enough to have any traditions. Christmas, in particular, just felt like a scam against the normal classed citizens. After all, Santa was constantly used as an advertisement to entice children. But if he was asked what he thought of when Christmas came up, he would be able to give an actual answer.

Christmas was Pepper coming around to help decorate his house, no matter how ugly his snowflakes were. It was of fresh pine stinking up his living room with an obnoxious star on top of the tree. Christmas was Happy ordering the most ridiculous flavors of candy canes. He would try them and relay every emotion that ran through his brain back to the candy man just to make him laugh. Christmas was Rhodey, his oldest friend, calling him without fail from wherever the air force soldier was. They would reminisce about their college years and make plans to meet when they were free. Christmas was of fresh morning coffees, overtly salted chicken wings, disgustingly sweet hot chocolate that reminded him of human Jarvis, and watching dumb Christmas movies with someone like he had always wanted to as a kid.

Christmas was being with Loki.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You are all loved! :D
> 
> I wanted to do a non-Christmasy like Christmas fic, so ya'll got this. Sometimes I think Christmas has become a bit too much about materialism over time and I don't really get it anymore. Either way, I still like Christmas.
> 
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
> 
> Also side note:  
> \- I imagine that they do get together and at one point, Tony would suggest they visit Loki's family for Yuletide. He would immediately regret it after a day there.  
> \- Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy will tease Tony over his crush like the children they are.


End file.
